Rotary engine.



PATENTED DEC. 10, 1907.

2 SHEETSSHEEVT 1.

Inventor;

Attorneys 3 i v V i W\ E. C. RHODES.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00111, 1905.

PATENTED DEC. 10, 19"/ E. G. RHODES.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED OOT.11,1905

2- SHEBTS-SHEET 2 lnventon ha'tornevs mvrrn rrrc ROTARY Enema.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 11, 1905. Serial 110. 282,309-

Patented Dec. 10, 190?.

"and has forits principal object to provide a by bolts 12.

novel form of engine in which an explosive mixture maybe used for power, the englne being, also, of such construction as to permit the employment of'steam, air or other fluid as the controlling medium.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rotary engine in which. the inlet valves are arranged to move on lines substantially tangential to the periphery of the piston, and are provided with pins or similar members that engage with the cam surface of the piston drum for the purpose of moving them to open position. 7

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists in certain. novel features of censtruction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings I-Figure 1 is a vertical section of a rotary engine con-- structed 1n accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 1s a plan view of the same on the hue 22 of Fig. 1.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several figures oi the draw I lngs.

The engine is provided with a base 10, an" the cylinder constitutes two approxinlately cylindrical heads 11 that are provided with bolting flanges and are rigidly held together The expansion space 13 is annular and. is divided into two separate chambers by slidable abutments 1-1 and 15 that are arranged in guiding recesses 16. The abutments are in the form of free disks of a diameter considerably greater than the cross sectioniof the expansion space 13, and the guiding recesses lfiextend across said expan- Siongispace,..s9 that the abutment Wlll be sup ported by the walls of the recess at all points. The abutments are held in engagement with the periphery of the piston drum 1? by means of helical compression springs 18 arranged in a suitable guiding casing 19 at the sides of the cylinder.

The piston disk 17 is in the form of a comparatively thin plate, and its periphery is in the form of a spiral cam, at the abrupt shoulder 20 of which is secured a piston wing 21. that is circular in form, and is provided with a suitable packing ring, the piston fitting snugly in the annular expansion space or chamber 13. The shoulder 20 is arranged in a line leading from the center of rotation of the disk and extends inward from the inner face of the piston wing to a point beyond the annular expansion space of the cylinder. As the piston disk revolves, the cam like surface of said disk will force the abut ment outward. from the expansion space, and after the piston. passes each abutment, the latter will be forced inward by its spring, and a cylinder will be formed between the abutment and the receding piston, this space being then filled with the actuating fluid.

The engine is provided with two inlet ports 24 and two exhaust ports 25, and the valve chambers from which these ports lead are in the form of tubes 27 which are placed in position in recesses formed in the sectional casings of the cylinder, so that when the latter is bolted together, the tubes will be held. in place and leakage prevented.

The tubes which form the inlet chambers are provided with slidable piston valves 28, each valve being in the form of a hollow cylinder that normally is held in closed position by a helical compression spring 29, and when the valve held to its seat, as shown to the left of Fig. 1, the inlet port 21 will be closed. Projecting from each of the valves is a pin 30 which extends through a recessbl formed in the wall of the cylinder and projects into the path of movement of the periphery of the piston disk, so that as the latter moves.-

open I or a sufhcient length of time to permit the mtrance of steam, air or other actuating fluid. After the piston passes beyond the pin 30, the valve is restored to its closed position by the spring 29, and l'ilYPTna'FtoT- HM fluid will act expansively within the cylinder and will' drive the piston ahead.v

As the construction is especially adapted for the employment of an explosive mixture as the actuating medium, an igniting device is placed at each of the inlet ports 24. This igniting device comprises an electrode 33 a that is insulated from the casing, and a second electrode 34 that is carried by the valve and is adapted to Wi e past the electrode 33L The two electro es are connected in circuit with a battery 85, or some other source of electrical energy, and said electrodes are so disposed that during the closing movement of the valve, after the admission of the explosive com ound, the electrode 34 .will wipe past the e e'ctrode 33,; creating-a" spark that will ignite the explosive compound. This, however, cannot occur until practically closed, the v the valve itself is movement of the va ve under the action of "spring 29 being very rapid, and the spark- T: mai n -thiere can chamber.

practically instantaneous, so that ye no back fire through the valve llVith a device constructed in accordance with this invention it is possible to obtain very high speed at comparatively small-cost is claimed is:-

face, a piston wing circular in form an dsecured to the radial face of the disk, the disk having a radially arranged shoulder in alinement with the pressure face of the iston wing, and extending inward heyondtie inner Wall of the working space of the cylinder, a pair of ahutments engaging with the periphery of a piston disk and movable inward and a pin rejecting to a point heyond the extreme; innei'i'edgeof' workm space, and iston controlled such inlet valves ocated heyon theabutments and arranged to be operated b'y the periphe :ery of the iston dis after-the abutments have move across andclosed the working space of the cylinder.

2. The combination a rotary engine, f'

a cylinder formed of a pair ofcastings arranged to form an annular workingspace and provided with recesses at oints outside said Working-space, a pistonjdis a wing carried thereby and arranged to travel in the cy fnder, and inlet, and

working'space of the r discharge-passages communicatin with the Workin space of thecylinderzan provided with -so id tubular linings that are confined Within said recessesto revent leaka' eof. the

fluid between the inem ers of the "cy nder. 1

3.. The combination in a rotary engine, of

'a'cylinder, a movable piston disk arranged therein and having a camshaped periphery,

a piston inletvalve arran ed to move'in a line substantially tan'gentlal to the piston,

from said valve anddi'sposed in t e path 0 movement ofthe piston. I 4.- The combination in a rotary engine, of a cylinder, a dpiston disk arranged therein, a

wing on the lsk, an abutment, an inlet port adjacentto the abutment, a hollow cylindrlcal valve for controlling the flow .of fluid through said port,"and arran ed to move in a line substantially". tangentia to the piston, and a pin projecting from the valve through a recess in the wall-of the cylinder and arranged to be engaged by the periphery of the piston disk.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto allixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ELBERT CHARLES RHODES.

Witnesses:

W. J. J upon, E. RUsII. 

